Trump heads to Nebraska on Monday, where his plan to import more beef has angered ranchers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is taking his Republican midterm rescue mission to Nebraska on Monday, campaigning alongside GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is running against an independent candidate backed by national Democrats.

Trump is headed to Grand Island, Nebraska, located in the solidly conservative south-central part of the state. It’s part of what the Republican president says is a 32-day blitz of rallies ahead of Nov. 3 that so far has taken him to ruby-red territory such as Oklahoma and Alabama. On Wednesday, he’ll make his second stop in two weeks in Texas with a rally in San Antonio.

“The president’s coming to Nebraska to help me campaign, so I can get reelected,” Ricketts told the Associated Press last week on Capitol Hill.

Ricketts, a former governor of the state, was appointed then later elected to fill Sen. Ben Sasse’s seat when he left to run the University of Florida in 2023. Now he is running for his first full six-year term against independent Dan Osborn — a race that initially was not expected to be competitive but is now being watched by the national parties.

Voters across the country are frustrated with Trump’s handling of the economy, including persistently high costs for fuel and groceries. It’s a major issue for rural voters who have backed the president and his party in recent elections.

The administration’s plan to allow more imports of foreign beef has particularly roiled the agriculture-rich state of Nebraska. Trump wants to lower beef prices for consumers, but ranchers have rebelled against the import proposal, arguing it would undercut them.

“The plan to import low-quality foreign beef is not helping Nebraska ranchers,” Ricketts told the AP. “I would advise the White House to change that policy and look for longer-term things that will help us build the size of the herd and ultimately bring the price of beef down for consumers.”

There are a few Senate races where independents are the challengers

In the House of Representatives, the Grand Island area is represented by Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, whose race is not expected to be close. But Nebraska has a competitive House race farther east in Omaha, considered the “blue dot” of the state because the area’s electoral vote in presidential elections often goes to Democrats.

Osborn, a former labor union chief, ran against Republican Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024 and lost by 7 percentage points. Though national Democrats support him, he has refused to say what party he would caucus with should he be elected in November.

Other independents in the Senate, including Maine’s Angus King on the moderate end and Vermont’s Bernie Sanders on the left, caucus with Democrats for organizational purposes and committee assignments.

With the Democratic brand remaining deeply unpopular in conservative states, Osborn isn’t the only declared independent running for the Senate against Republicans this year. In South Dakota, Navy and Air Force veteran Brian Bengs is campaigning as an independent against Republican Sen. Mike Rounds. Bengs ran as a Democrat for the Senate four years ago and was handily defeated by now-Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

It’s a similar dynamic in Idaho, where independent Todd Achilles is challenging GOP Sen. Jim Risch.

Democratic voters in Nebraska chose Cindy Burbank as their party nominee earlier this year, but Burbank specifically campaigned on ensuring that no votes would be siphoned from Osborn in the general elections in November, and she has since formally dropped out of the race.

Osborn has been traveling across Nebraska to hold meetings in all 93 counties, and has repeatedly criticized Ricketts for not holding town halls to meet with constituents.

Ricketts, whose family founded TD Ameritrade and owns Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, served as governor from 2015 to 2023.